Tag Archives: Norway

Despite the fact that World War II and the Nazi menace happened seventy years ago, it’s a (hopefully) wildly aberrant phenomenon that still–rightly so–has people reeling as they grapple to understand the complexities of organized evil. Since the end of WWII, filmmakers the world over have made movies addressing the question of Nazi occupation in an effort to understand, at least in hindsight, the menace that overwhelmed Europe in the 1930s and ’40s. They’re still making them, with recent memory bringing us movies like Schindler’s Listand The Pianist and Life is Beautifuland Downfall. Movies like these–and hundreds more–explore the horror that was the Nazi regime, so we may hopefully never forget the depths to which mankind may fall.

As was all too common in Europe, Norway’s capitulation to Nazi occupation and their treatment of Norwegian Jews was met with precious little resistance. So it seems that sometimes, in the middle of contemplating your country’s complicity in the abomination that was Nazi rule, you’ve gotta shake things up by putting the Nazis in modern-day Norway. And once you do that you might want to imagine that those modern-day Nazis in Norway are “survivors” (if you can call them that) of a battalion that was run out of a village towards the end of the war and sent into the mountains to die. And they did die, but not really. Because somehow, up in Norway’s remote mountain caves, those surviving Nazis became bloodthirsty zombies.

This movie is…well, it’s special, isn’t it? It’s certainly something that makes a viewer want to scratch his or her head and ask, WTF? Really?

Considering the main cast is relatively small, there’s an extraordinary amount of gore in Dead Snow. If you’re afraid of having to follow subtitles, I’m here to tell you to A) get over it, B) it’s a pretty straightforward gore-horror movie, so you really won’t miss any dramatic plot twists if you can’t keep up with reading the translations and C) there are long stretches of movie that are all bloody mayhem and no dialogue. Which is kind of interesting to watch, since US-made horror films can’t seem to bear the thought of no dialogue, even if it doesn’t make sense. If I were fighting off a zombie, I doubt my focus would be on giving sass, too. Plus, it’s got one of the most glorious (and I would daresay gleeful) chainsaw fights in all of filmdom. Which, all things considered, then begs the question: Great Norwegian Nazi zombie movie, or greatest Norwegian Nazi zombie movie?

And yes, it’s real and available for home viewing. Check your Netflix. If only I could make this up.

WordPress hasn’t given me any non-sequitur tags because this entry is weird enough as it is. But! I’ll include a bonus link to the Jake and Dinos Chapman art installment, “The Sum of All Evil“. A mass of diorama and reworked paintings, the Chapman Brothers hang Nazis and crucify multiple Ronald McDonalds while making critical social commentary.

Pretty WTF-y for sure, and IIIIIIIIIIIII LIKE IT! Several suggestions were made to include this display in the MoWTF, including a suggestion from friend of the museum Michael C. Keep ’em coming, people!

“The Sum of All Evil” was on display in Kiev until just recently and is currently en route to Hong Kong, where it can be seen until the end of August.